Exploring Exploratory Testing

Exploratory testers need to draw heavily on their creativity, memory of past events, and intuition. While many people may be naturally gifted in these areas, that subset of the population is not the only group of people who can be exploratory testers. Exercises that encourage participants to develop their creativity, sharpen their memory, or focus their intuition will probably all play an important role. These exercises will draw on the extensive literature in other fields and tie these concepts into testing.

Exploratory testers need to draw heavily on their creativity, memory of past events, and intuition. While many people may be naturally gifted in these areas, that subset of the population is not the only group of people who can be exploratory testers. Exercises that encourage participants to develop their creativity, sharpen their memory, or focus their intuition will probably all play an important role. These exercises will draw on the extensive literature in other fields and tie these concepts into testing.

About the author

Cem Kaner is Professor of Computer Sciences at Florida Tech. He is senior author of three books, Lessons Learned in Software Testing, BadSoftware, and Testing Computer Software. He's also an attorney (a former prosecutor) whose idea of a good time is holding companies accountable for releasing defective software. Work towards this article was supported by the National Science Foundation grant EIA-0113539 and by Rational Software.